Only coral tank

[ReeferRey]

I was wondering if anyone has had an only coral tank no fishies. I’m starting to get lazy on feeding and water changes, I was seeing if anyone here has had success an only coral tank and the difficulties on running that type of a tank. Thanks in advance.

 

[Invictus]

Lack of steady and consistent nutrients is the main drawback of not having fish. Corals like to eat fish poop. Generally, you’ll need to dose nitrates and phosphates. Otherwise it shouldn’t be an issue.

 

[MarcosD]

My frag system is around 60 gallons water volume and I only had 3 clownfish in it because I didn’t really want fish in there and I struggled with nitrates bottoming out. I’ve added a few fish since then and not having to dose as much anymore but still dosing. I guess you just have to decide between if you want to dose or if you’d rather do water changes/feed. Have you thought about getting an automatic feeder?

 

[ReeferRey]

My frag system is around 60 gallons water volume and I only had 3 clownfish in it because I didn’t really want fish in there and I struggled with nitrates bottoming out. I’ve added a few fish since then and not having to dose as much anymore but still dosing. I guess you just have to decide between if you want to dose or if you’d rather do water changes/feed. Have you thought about getting an automatic feeder?

I feed only frozen mysis but maybe I should move to dried pellets and auto feeder to make it easier

 

[ReeferRey]

Sooo it if I take out my fish and dose major minor elements,nitrates and phosphates when needed then I don’t need to do water changes then also right?

 

[Invictus]

Sooo it if I take out my fish and dose major minor elements,nitrates and phosphates when needed then I don’t need to do water changes then also right?

Correct. You’re describing the moonshiner method, more or less. Look into it if you haven’t. It will require semi-regular icp tests.

 

[Coral reefer]

Just plumb it together with a display and you’re good

 

[MarcosD]

Just plumb it together with a display and you’re good

I think he’s trying to convert his only tank to coral only. Don’t think he has a frag/display thing going

 

[Darkxerox]

No fish in the budget build tank, just some crustaceans: https://www.bareefers.org/forum/threads/darkxeroxs-25-budget-build.38032/

 

[Coral reefer]

I think he’s trying to convert his only tank to coral only. Don’t think he has a frag/display thing going

That sounds like a him problem!

 

[tribbitt]

Food adds more than just N and P. It also adds plenty of traces, also coral like to grab uneaten food bits / fish poo. Also, not sure if you have herbivorous fish, but you'll have to add other herbivores if you take them out

Def doable if you're sure you want to do it but it's not just "net fish, done"

 

[MichaelB]

It's probably easier to have fish. I imagine. It's possible but to do no water changes and not have fish, it would probably take lots more effort to maintain than simply having fish. Lots of additives dosing multiple things you name it.

There are probably several examples of people doing it online as well. It hinges on your end goals and effort your willing to put into it.

Water changes take effort, so does dosing all the stuff not to need to. To me probably easier to just do the water changes.

It's possibly for sure to really strech the water changes out to every 2-3 months if you do larger ones, and have adquate filtration.

On my main 40gallon sps I do weekly 5gallon water change never miss.
4 fish 2.5- 3 inches


On my biocube32 nem tank I sometimes do a 5 gallon water change maybe every 4-5 weeks. 4 fish 3-6 inches

On my 50gallon frag tank, I haven't done any in the 3.5 months the tank has been running until last week due to treating red planaria. - no fish in this system currently fallow

 

[Alexander1312]

My coral frag tank 28 gallon has one six line wrasse, and nutrients are constantly all over the place, specifically nitrate are always rather low, as @MarcosD already mentioned. A good balance between fish and corals seems to be preferable.